Surface
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: Raizel-nim and Muzaka wouldn't stop staring at M-21.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary** : Raizel-nim and Muzaka wouldn't stop staring at M-21.

I'd been thinking about doing this for forget prompt for the Noblesse December Event, but got side tracked with other projects, heh.

* * *

 **Surface  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Raizel-nim and Muzaka wouldn't stop staring at M-21. Muzaka, he could understand, since the ex-werewolf Lord had just been brought into the house, and he was still getting used to M-21. M-21 was...what he was, so obviously Muzaka was going to be curious. M-21 didn't like it, but there was technically not much he can do (aside from telling him to knock it off and as if the ex-werewolf _Lord_ would listen to a nobody like him). M-21 was used to stares and people eventually stopped. So whatever, it would pass. But Raizel-nim? Why had Raizel-nim started staring at him?

Not that either of them were being obvious, but there had been enough moments where M-21 had caught them looking in his direction when his face had been turned away that he couldn't deny what they were doing, either.

Or maybe Raizel-nim was just worried about him after what had just happened and had just wanted to double-check he was still there.

Maybe. That should eventually stop as well.

Just so long as he didn't get kidnapped _again_ any time soon.

xOx

Muzaka stared at him, hesitating. "What did you call me...?"

M-21 frowned. "I called you Muzaka." What the fuck. What _else_ would he call him? Muzaka hadn't seemed offended by the lack of nim honorific before -he'd actually seemed happier being called without it- so what was going on now?

Muzaka smiled at him, a quick one that disappeared as soon as it came, and Muzaka's gaze was everywhere but staying on M-21. "A-ah, right... My mistake." Muzaka turned and walked away, but not before M-21 heard him take a huge breath, his shoulders tense.

Scrubbing at his face with a hand, M-21 went downstairs to Tao's security room. At least there, he was far less likely to bump into either Raizel-nim or Muzaka.

"Yooo, M!" Tao greeted, not looking away from his screens. "If you brought coffee, yer late 'cause Takeo already did."

Takeo nodded towards M-21 with a smile.

"If I brought coffee, you'd either already finished your own or it's stone cold," M-21 said with a sigh.

"No, it's-!" Tao wrapped his hand around the cup on the coaster in front of him. "Uhm. Anyway! What's up?"

He smirked at Tao's attempt to change the subject. But... "Raizel-nim and Muzaka have been acting weird."

There was no instant response from Takeo or Tao, and the pair shared a look. So they'd noticed as well. It wasn't just his imagination.

"What was the most recent thing that happened?" Takeo asked.

M-21 shrugged. "Muzaka asked what I'd said, when I'd called him by name." He couldn't be going deaf, right? Werewolf healing probably took care of that eventually.

"Hm..." Tao tapped a key, then looked at M-21 over his shoulder. "Want me to check? We could be missing something."

"Sure." M-21 doubted it would help, since nothing out of the ordinary had been happening when he'd seen Raizel-nim and Muzaka's reactions, but maybe he'd missed something about them at the time.

It didn't take long for Tao to pinpoint the last incident, and M-21 crossed his arms as they watched what happened on the monitor from a variety of different angles.

Everything was exactly as M-21 remembered it being, so the problem must-

The M-21 on the screen's face softened into a smile with closed eyes. As M-21 blinked, he heard, "Hey, Ahjussi!"

What.

That hadn't been his voice. The voice that had come out his mouth had been pitched higher, the intonations different. Like a child's.

Tao rewound a few seconds.

"Hey, Ahjussi!"

It wasn't a mistake. He'd really said that.

As ice crashed through M-21's system, Muzaka's face flashed with something before he'd buried it.

"What did you call me...?"

On the screen, the smile melted from M-21's face, replaced with a frown. "I called you Muzaka."

"The fuck?" M-21 muttered, his hands clenched into trembling fists. "What the _fuck_?" What the fuck was going on? How could he just _say_ that and not be aware of it? To not fucking _remember_? How long had this been going on?

"Sooo," Tao drew out. "What do you think?"

"We already know what you think it is," Takeo said, patting Tao's shoulder, making M-21 snort.

Tao squawked, flailing a hand at Takeo. "Oi, am I really _that_ predictable?"

" _Yes_ ," M-21 and Takeo said together. Tao had already made a lot of theories and guesses about a connection between M-21 and Muzaka, since they almost looked like blood family with their hair and habit of losing their shirt every so often.

Someone who knew Muzaka enough that the ex-werewolf Lord was startled at the reminder...

M-21 sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So. What. Do I go ask Frankenstein for a blood test to see if we're related or something?"

Tao gave a slow nod. "It'll narrow down possible explanations anyway."

It was better than nothing.

xOx

Frankenstein peered at the results, humming. M-21 fidgeted after he'd pulled his sleeve down again. Comparing results didn't usually take this long.

"I can see why you're concerned," Frankenstein said, glancing away from what he was looking at, "but unless something different happens with werewolves, neither you or Muzaka are related."

...Huh, that was unexpected.

"But then..." M-21 said, "what the hell _is_ it?" Was he being mind controlled? Something else?

"I'm not sure," Frankenstein admitted. "The only people who may be able to give you an answer is Master or Muzaka."

And neither of them had brought it up first with him. But then, he hadn't thought anything was happening either — he wouldn't have believed them if they'd said anything to him.

Exhaling, M-21 nodded.

Time to hopefully get some answers.

xOx

They found Raizel-nim and Muzaka on the sofa in the living room, Raizel-nim with a cup of tea in his hand, Muzaka lounging with his arms spread it looked like he was trying to take up as much space as he could there.

"Hey," Muzaka said, lifting an arm to wave, "is it time for dinner already?"

Frankenstein shook his head. "Not for another hour or so, but that's not why we're here."

"Oh?"

M-21 pursed his lips. "I'm acting...weirdly and you and Raizel-nim seem to know something about it. You've both been staring at me." Or maybe he only acted that certain way with those two; Takeo and Tao would have brought it up if he'd acted the same way around them.

Raizel-nim and Muzaka stilled, the smile sliding off Muzaka's face.

"Well..." Muzaka started, scratching his cheek, "we didn't want to say anything since...we weren't that sure what was happening either."

"The only thing we were sure of," Raizel-nim said, setting his cup down with a soft 'clink', "was that your mannerisms reminded us of Ashleen."

Ash -

"Yes," Frankenstein said, nodding. "But we've just checked, and neither of you share the same markers."

Muzaka's eyebrows shot up. "Hey, when did you get my blood?"

Frankenstein snorted. "I didn't need to — you never clean up after yourself so collecting your stray hairs was easy enough."

...Right. M-21 hadn't checked if Frankenstein had Muzaka's DNA to even compare with.

"So M's not acting like that 'cause he's got Ashleen's heart," Tao said, his gaze drifting to the ceiling, "then maybe - aha!" He slammed the bottom of his fist into his open palm. "Maybe he's Ashleen's reincarnation!"

"Reincar-what?" Muzaka repeated, confusion in the crease between his eyebrows.

"Reincarnation!" Tao repeated. "Ashleen's soul was reborn as M-21."

"But werewolves don't..." Muzaka trailed off, frowning.

"Werewolves don't," M-21 said. Apparently. As far as they knew. "But humans might," he said. And Ashleen had been half-human. What would happen with her?

M-21 pursed his lips, not liking where the line of thinking was going. Was it really likely that Ashleen had been reborn in him just around about the time Muzaka would reawaken?

It sounded too much like fate and destiny to him. And if that were that the case, then it would have been his _destiny_ to be grabbed by the Union and experimented on for years on fucking end, just for the chance to finally meet Muzaka again.

"So, what," M-21 said, glowering. "Does this mean I'm going to keep doing things she used to until I'm just like her?" Was he going to lose himself to someone who had already died, who probably wasn't even _trying_ to take him over?

There was a long silence at his words.

"We don't know," Rai admitted, holding his gaze.

Great. Just fucking _great_. He could fucking _disappear_ when he woke up and there was no way to stop it. He wouldn't even know it had happened!

M-21 took a deep breath. "Fine." There was nothing else he could do but wait. And hope it didn't get worse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary** : Ashleen wakes up.

* * *

 **Surface  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Ashleen woke up. She wasn't home but... Oh, she had to be dreaming. That would explain why everything was different, why everything felt _weird_. Everything was too sharp, too loud, like they were right up next to her face, demanding her attention.

Even her head felt weird. There was no familiar weight there and when she ran her hand through her hair, her fingers combed through far faster than she was used to. She pulled her hair there in front of her face.

...Silver hair...? Almost like Ahjussi's. She stared at it before shaking her head. Definitely a dream. Was she dreaming she was him?

She stood up and — woooah, she was tall! Maybe as tall as Ahjussi!

She nearly tripped over her feet as she walked over to the door. It was like she was floating, feeling lighter and needing less to move. She nearly walked into the door too, the distance she needed to open it bigger than she was used to.

She had almost gotten used to walking when she heard someone come up behind her, an arm slipping around her shoulders.

"Hey, em, you drunk or something?" The person was a man with short black black hair and a white stripe at the front. His hair shook a bit as he chuckled.

"I'm dreaming!" she replied, smiling.

"Dream-" The man blinked, then replied with a smile. "Oooh, I see. And your name's Ashleen, isn't it?"

"Yup!" She didn't need to ask how the man knew her name — she was dreaming, after all.

"How long you been dreaming for?"

How long...? She'd woken up and then walked out of the room. "A couple minutes?"

"Do you wanna meet other dream people?"

"Sure!" Why not?

The man -Tao?- led her further into the house, down stairs that seemed to go into the ground. The house melted into shiny bright walls that looked like they could reflect light if Ashleen looked at them in the right way. The doors even opened by themselves!

While she was distracted with machines along the wall, she heard someone approach them.

"Hey, Boss!" She turned in time to see Tao waving his hands in the blond man's direction. She felt like she could recognise it, but she couldn't understand what Tao meant by it.

The blond man blinked. "I see..." He did? He turned to Ashleen, a smile on his face. "Ashleen, we're going to do a small check-up, if you don't mind."

"What for?" she asked, walking over and hopping up onto the table that she just knew would be used for checking her over.

"To see how strong the dream is," the man -Frankenstein- said, placing one hand on her shoulder and guiding her down until she lay on top of the table. "This won't hurt."

Of course it wouldn't. She closed her eyes in preparation for the bright light that would pass over her.

It didn't take long and she cracked an eye open when Frankenstein called out to her. "Ashleen?"

"Mm!" She sat up with a huff and then blinked at Frankenstein and Tao. "It's weird," she admitted. "The dream is feeling more and more real." She peered down at her hands as she flexed them. The skin was darker than she was used to. A lot bigger too. She felt more grounded, like she was actually interacting with everything now.

"I see..." Frankenstein said, glancing between something on the scanner and her.

She wasn't too worried though. "This place is too different from home to be real; I just have to wait to wake up!"

"Yes," Frankenstein said, his voice soft. "That's all we have to do."


End file.
